


Killed, or Worse, Expelled

by Theta8



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Brief mentions of suicide, Expansion ficlet, Gen, Marauders, just being kosher, which have nothing to do with the plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-07 17:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theta8/pseuds/Theta8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius plays an unworthy trick on a curious young Snape and sends him under the Whomping Willow after Lupin. James has to save him and spells out the consequences for Sirius. An expansion on the anecdote in PoA.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Killed, or Worse, Expelled

     “What the hell were you thinking, Sirius!” James roared at him when he returned to the dormitory from a weighty conversation with Professor Dumbledore. Severus Snape had been coerced not to tell about the werewolf Black had lead him to, and James had saved him from.

“Just a bit of fun, James, something to teach old Snivelus not to go poking his big nose into everything.” He laughed, unsure and  defensive as James stormed across the room.

“You could have gotten him killed!” He shouted; throwing a pillow at him.

“It would have served him bloody well right, that slimy, git!” Sirius snapped back.

“And what if he was killed? Think of what would have happened to Remus!” Upon hearing his name, he stepped into the dormitory; still looking thin from the previous night’s transformation.

     “What would have happened to me?” He asked, unwilling to hear the truth.

“Black sent Snape into the Whomping Willow after you tonight and I had to save his hide; and the rest of ours mind you, Sirius!” He pointed out angrily. “I was reminding him that we’d all have been thrown out of school if anything had happened.”

“But nothing was going to happen, James! He would have seen Lupin as a werewolf and ran all the way back to London with his tail between his legs! No harm!” Sirius held the pillow up in defense. Lupin spoke up with a tense and angry look in his eye.

“You didn’t think he wouldn’t figure it out? You betrayed me Sirius and now he knows my secret, and if wasn’t for Dumbledore, the whole school would know!” he clenched and released his fists stiffly. James inserted himself between them while Remus collected himself to make his point clear.

     “Sirius; I’m surprised that you don’t understand by now. I am not myself during a transformation. I seem less dangerous to you because your Animagi are familiar to me, and large enough to deal with me; but I am never really in control. If James hadn’t pulled Severus away, if I’d seen Severus run, I would have chased him. The urge to bite humans in my wolf form is irresistible; it’s why I always used to bite and scratch myself.” He paused a minute to stop the emotion that threatened to breach his calm cover as he reached his most critical point, “If I had bitten or killed Severus Snape, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, Sirius.” He paused again, now shaking with the thought.  And James is right, they would kick me out of school. I’d be alone again, locked up every month...” He trailed off.

     Growing up in the lycanthropy community, he heard all the terrifying statistics. Nearly 50% become homeless. They are 66 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.  His friends would never truly know what he faced without them. They didn’t live with the prejudice or the fear; fear of being discovered, fear of hurting someone. They didn’t know how truly critical it would be to his future, just to get his O.W.L.S. The flippancy and irresponsibility of Sirius’ prank stung him, the pain burned from inside his chest, threatening to explode into anger. James took his turn to lay down the line.

     “What we get to do, it’s not all fun and games, Sirius. It’s a huge responsibility; to protect people, and to keep our secret.” He chastised,  “To protect Remus.” James added gravely. “You can’t pull something like that ever again.” he patronized.

“Nothing would have happened, James! I’m not entirely stupid!” Sirius shouted back in defense. The accusations knocked the trickster in him down from his high to a state of consequences and responsibility. James fumed at him. Remus understood how heavily the guilt was hitting him.

“Sirius,” He pleaded gently for him to stay. He stormed out of the dormitory. James sighed, exasperated by his drama.

“He’ll cool off, James, don’t worry. You did the right thing. Remus said as he sat next to him on the bed. “Thank you.”

James' cheeks still burned with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. Under different circumstances he would have played along, laughed about not getting in trouble, but now he was the one getting his friend in trouble.

“It was a huge risk, now look how it’s turned out, ruddy Severus knows everything! We shouldn’t bring him next time.” James threatened, still hot headed.

“I need him though.” He wrapped an arm around his friend’s shoulder in place of Sirius’ apology, “So do you,” he reminded gently, “Look, we all make mistakes and you know he’s punishing himself enough for this one. No matter how foolish he is, he’s still our friend.” James softened, “ ‘Course he is. I’m gonna go- track him down.” Maybe not to apologize, but he couldn’t leave it like this. Remus willingly let his friend go. “I’ll go talk to Peter, he’s probably afraid you’ve killed Sirius.” He joked lightly as they left the dormitory. No sin was too great to forgive, not among friends like these.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Since Rowling's treatment of lycanthropy is a reflection on HIV/AIDS, I used some real statistics 
> 
> "The costs of health care and medications for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are often too high for people to keep up with. In addition, PLWHA are in danger of losing their jobs due to discrimination or as a result of frequent health-related absences. As a result, up to 50% of PLWHA in the United States are at risk of becoming homeless" (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2006).  
> http://tinyurl.com/7993wtl
> 
> and
> 
> "These data indicate that men with AIDS were 36 times more likely to commit suicide than the entire population of men 20 to 59 years old, and 66 times more likely than the general population. (New York Times, Gina Kolata, March 04, 1988) http://tinyurl.com/l3udvlt


End file.
